SCOTUS to Hear Case Challenging NSA Warrantless Wiretapping Program
- Posted on May 22, 2012 at 8:40pm by
Liz Klimas
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In an issue that has already had a lot of legal back-and-forth, the Supreme Court of the United States has agreed to hear a case that would decide if the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups can even challenge the National Security Administration’s ability to eavesdrop without a warrant.
Wired reports the Obama Administration is arguing the ACLU, Amnesty International, Global Fund for Women, Global Rights, Human Rights Watch, and International Criminal Defence Attorneys Association don’t have the right to challenge the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 as they are not necessarily the subject of NSA wiretapping themselves.
Wired notes that the original bill signed into law in June 2008 was immediately challenged by the ACLU and others. A lower court ruled the groups could not challenge the law as they couldn’t prove the people they were communicating with were overseas, which would therefore make their emails and phone calls potentially subject to warrantless review. The groups then brought the case to an appeals court with some journalists among them arguing the law violated fourth amendment rights and “chilled” their speech. Last year, the 2nd U.S. Court of Appeals agreed that this could in fact be the case, but Wired points out the court did not “rule on the merits of the case” leaving the groups with “legal standing to pursue their claim.”
Here’s what the Obama Administration had to say at this time in its petition to the Supreme Court to overturn this ruling:
Respondents’ inability to show an imminent interception of their communications cannot be cured by the asserted chilling effect resulting from their fear of such surveillance,” the government wrote (.pdf) the Supreme Court in a petition.
Wired reports that in agreeing to hear the case, this is ”the first time the Supreme Court has agreed to review any case touching on the eavesdropping program that was secretly employed in the wake of 9/11 by the Bush administration.”
Yesterday, the ACLU Deputy Legal Director Jameel Jaffer said in a statement, “The appeals court properly recognized that our clients have a reasonable basis to fear that the government may be monitoring their conversations, even though it has no reason to suspect them of having engaged in any unlawful activities. The constitutionality of the government’s surveillance powers can and should be tested in court. We are hopeful that the Supreme Court will agree.”
ACLU Legal Director Steven Shapiro seconded this sentiment saying he isn’t surprised that the Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case but expressed disappointment that the administration is trying to “insulate the broadest surveillance program ever enacted by Congress from meaningful judicial review.”
In its statement on the Supreme Court’s decision to hear the case, the ACLU states that “little is known” about the use of the FISA Amendment Act and notes through a Freedom of Information Act request it found there were “compliance incidents” during six-month reviews of the act. To the ACLU, these incidents hint at “either an inability or an unwillingness to properly safeguard Americans’ privacy rights.”
Wired reports that even if the Supreme Court decides the ACLU and other plaintiffs have the right to challenge the wiretapping law, it might not result in the change they’re seeking:
The lawsuit would return to the courtroom of U.S. District Court Judge John G. Koeltl in New York, where, if past is prologue, the Obama administration likely would play its trump card: an assertion of the powerful state secrets privilege that lets the executive branch effectively kill lawsuits by claiming they threaten to expose national security secrets.
The ACLU wants amendments to the act that would ”limit surveillance to suspected terrorists and criminals, require the government to be more transparent about how the law is being used and place stronger restrictions on the retention and dissemination of information that is collected.”
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c0mm0nsense
Posted on May 24, 2012 at 8:01am” the Supreme Court of the United States has agreed to hear a case that would decide if the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups can even challenge the National Security Administration’s ability to eavesdrop without a warrant.”
It has come down to if “ groups can even challenge the National Security Administration ” Where is the outrage? Right and Left should be smoking mad! Who voted for this?
Wonder what the Octomom is up too?
Report Post »KC1
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 1:11pmI notice my fellow Paul supporters reading this article but with the exception of mutiny up there where are all the Romney supporters? Beck prides himself on his audience being interested in the important stories but this one has ten comments? And go figure they are from mostly libertarians. Ha only confirms my opinion, no group understands the threats to our freedom like Dr. Paul supporters. Romney supporters are more concerned with Plastic Surgery Mom and S.E Cupp explicit pics, ha well that explains why they support Romney.
Report Post »KC1
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 1:49pmSorry Mutiny you are a libertarian I know, I meant Mark 0331.
Report Post »jadams9845
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 9:47amEven if SCOTUS deems this unconstitutional, which it is, do you think this is going to stop the NSA? If you do, then you are very naive.
Report Post »progressiveslayer
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 8:18amWe are well down the road to a dictatorship with the size and scope of the federal government alone.Several unconstitutional laws,in particular NDAA the patriot act and warrantless wiretapping are the worst examples of government trampling the constitution.We have four radicals on SCOTUS and when the balance tips to a radical court,we‘re done because they’re the final arbiter and they would allow these abomination of laws to stand.
Report Post »Free2speakRN
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 5:09amWho here trusts the powers that be? Who will you complain to…Holder?!
Report Post »Mark0331
Posted on May 22, 2012 at 10:51pmMonths after the Oklahoma City bombing took place, Biden introduced a bill called the Omnibus Counterterrorism Act of 1995. It previewed the 2001 Patriot Act by allowing secret evidence to be used in prosecutions, expanding the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and wiretap laws, creating a new federal crime of “terrorism” that could be invoked based on political beliefs, permitting the U.S. military to be used in civilian law enforcement, and allowing permanent detection of non-U.S. citizens without judicial review. The Center for National Security Studies said the bill would erode “constitutional and statutory due process protections” and would “authorize the Justice Department to pick and choose crimes to investigate and prosecute based on political beliefs and associations.”
This is Joe Scarecrow Bidens baby……but he is too stupid to even remember this, just like most Dems.
Report Post »possom
Posted on May 22, 2012 at 10:26pmPay bay the minute cell phones, don’t leave home without it.
Report Post »Baddoggy
Posted on May 22, 2012 at 9:07pmWhile they are at it please tell me how the TSA crotch search is Constitutional…as well as welfare, social security, the Americans with Disability act, NDAA, The Patriot act. the FCC, the FDA and about 5000 other agencies….Yea, that’s gonna happen….
We have strayed so far from the Constitution SCOTUS wouldn’t know it if it bit them on the left cheek…And they are even considered CONSERVATIVE??? Hahahahahahahahaha
Report Post »Individualism
Posted on May 22, 2012 at 8:53pmits clearly unconstitutional you need a warrant as you would in real life, so CISPA can be struck down in this case to.
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on May 22, 2012 at 9:12pmI hope so.
Report Post »soybomb315
Posted on May 22, 2012 at 9:14pmsupreme court can strike it down but it will still continue. The government is above the constitution
Report Post »inblack
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 12:07amRon Paul would put an end to it.
Oh yeah, he’s just a crazy old man and you “conservatives” would rather give up your rights than balance the budget and reign in the govt.
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